How headless CMS and e-commerce join forces for flexible content editing
ALLWIN Solutions
Full-cycle software development, focusing on customer satisfaction, tangible results, and transparent development.
In the evolving landscape of digital systems, headless architectures have become a defining trend. Traditional CMS and e-commerce platforms have adapted by extending their capabilities through RESTful APIs. This article explores a real-world example of how combining a CMS and e-commerce system can address the challenges of content editing limitations in e-commerce.
?? The Challenge
E-commerce solutions often offer limited content editing features. When these limits are reached, businesses must engage their development teams to make changes to the site. The rigid structure of page editing in e-commerce can be problematic. For instance, reordering components on a product detail page may be challenging since the structure is hardcoded, leaving editors with little control. The solution is to utilize a CMS as a composer to enable flexible page editing.
?? The Solution: Umbraco & nopCommerce
Umbraco recently introduced the Content Delivery API, a set of RESTful endpoints for content retrieval, which can be deployed on Umbraco Cloud or on-premise. This complements Umbraco's existing headless product, Umbraco Heartcore. NopCommerce also offers headless plugins, such as the NopSuite Front-end API, featuring over 200 endpoints.
?? The Marriage
The goal is to create a stable, long-lasting partnership between the two systems. Each system is assigned specific roles:
Umbraco, responsible for presentation:
-Page structure, sitemap, and navigation.
-Layout, determining which components appear on a page.
-Handling non-commerce-related content, like marketing materials.
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NopCommerce, exclusively handling e-commerce functions:
-User authentication.
-Product catalog and search.
-Order management.
-Payment and cart management.
-Checkout processes.
In this collaboration, the e-commerce system relies on the CMS for the foundational elements of the website. The Next.js component, serving as the head application, processes RESTful API responses and renders them in the browser. Its roles encompass presentation, authentication, cookie handling, cart UI management, content presentation, and connecting responses from both the CMS and e-commerce.
?? Drawbacks
As with all solutions, there are challenges. The headless nature of this approach means that WYSIWYG editors are generally not available for content management, as the CMS is decoupled from the presentation layer. Nevertheless, most vendors provide preview functionality, enabling editors to review changes before publishing.
?? Conclusion
The integration of a CMS and e-commerce system offers a powerful solution to the content and page editing challenges in e-commerce. It allows the head application to be based on the chosen technology independently of the CMS or e-commerce framework. While this example illustrates one approach, it demonstrates the immense potential of headless solutions for even the simplest web shops. Stay tuned for more insights on how technology can reshape your digital landscape! ????